Ultimate Fiber Stress for a Camphor Tree

[Polecat]

I've designed wood poles for years, using Douglas Fir, Southern Yellow Pine, Red Cedar, etc. Just recently, I've been confronted with needing to know what the ultimate bending stress is for a camphor tree. I've done the usual searches for fiber stress in wood and came up with just about every species of tree imaginable -------- except for camphor! Does anyone have any info on this???

http://www.spiraleng.com

 

[Ron]

Polecat....attached is a data sheet on Camphor Wood from the Forest Products Laboratory. It looks like it is a fairly weak wood, structurally. It is native to my area and very common, but have not seen it harvested for structural purposes.


...if you want to know anything about wood, the FPL is the best source of data I know

 

[BAretired]

See attached for comparison to Ron's reference.

BA

 

[Polecat]

Thanks, fellows, that info was helpful.
I was amazed to see that the bending rupture stress of camphor is as good or better than some pines or firs.
Don't worry, though, I'm not planning to harvest camphor trees for utility poles, it's just that I have run into a situation where I may have to use one as a support for a span guy that is tied to another tree (leaning over) and need to know what kind of bending resistance I can count on.

http://www.spiraleng.com

 

[Ron]

BAretired...your sheet has the properties. My sheet looked the same, but was missing some of the data on yours. Thanks.

 

[BAretired]

Ron, I have not gone through them in detail but I thought your sheet provided the same properties as mine, but in a format which was difficult to read. There may be other differences but I don't expect to be using any Camphor trees in the immediate future, so I will leave it to Polecat to sort through it.

BA

 

[Ron]

BA...same here. I have one in my back yard...great shade...no other use.

 

[Polecat]

I'll get back to you on the outcome. Yes, they are good shade trees, but you just can't say that there is no other use for them. The oil from the camphor leaf is the main ingredient in that age old balm, Mentholatum.
We have a huge camphor tree in our front yard which effortlessly survived a direct hit from Hurricane Charley in 2004. We also hsve two of them in the parking lot where my office is located. However, the jury is still out on whether or not I can predict just how strong they are.

http://www.spiraleng.com

 

[Ron]

Polecat...they are good climbing trees for kids as well! You are apparently near me. My camphor tree has grown nicely in past 20 years and has survived numerous wind assaults that took shingles and other things away.